Celebrating the life of Roger Payne

British Mountain Guides18th July, 2012

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[Missing photo!]

The life of Roger Payne was cut short on 12 July in an avalanche on Mont Maudit in the French Alps. The breadth of his contribution to life in general and mountaineering in particular was extraordinary. He had a capacity to bite off life in big chunks and then wash them down with vast quantities of climbers' rehydration fluid and so the people wishing to celebrate a truly great man are diverse, both socially and geographically.

With that in mind, we plan to have 3 separate events to mark Roger's life:

A church service near his home in Leysin, Switzerland at 2 pm on Saturday 21st July

There will be a memorial service at 2pm on 28th July in Shepherds Bush, London.

The British Mountaineering Council and British Mountain Guides will organise a memorial event in Manchester in the ensuing weeks.

Anyone is welcome to any and/or all of these events as Roger touched the lives of so many people in so many different ways.

Church Service in Leysin

This will be in the small church of Leysin, Vaud, Switzerland at 2 pm on Saturday 21st July. The church has a capacity of about 140 people, so there will be a PA system to transmit the proceedings to anyone we are unable to fit into the church. The church is located at 46°20'29.96"N 7° 0'45.37"E or Swiss coordinates 567196 132338 or you can find it here: GOOGLE MAP

The local police will be on hand to direct day visitors to parking facilities.

For those of you travelling from further afield, accommodation in Leysin can be found HERE

There will be a reception at the nearby Fromagerie immediately after the service from 3 to 6 pm, after which a previously arranged Festival de Musique will recommence. We are sure Roger would thoroughly approve of loud music and drinking.

Julie-Ann would welcome either flowers or a contribution to the Roger Payne Memorial Fund, which will support international mountain training. If you would like to contribute to this fund, please visit bmg.org.uk

For those of you can't be with us in Leysin, there will be 2 guides recording the event with both still photos and video and we will circulate their images via the internet after the event.

Church Service in Shepherds Bush

There will be a memorial service at the URC Methodist Church in Askew Road, Shepherds Bush, London W12 9RN. The event will start at 2pm and there will be a reception afterwards.

Details of the events in Manchester will follow soon, but keep an eye on the BMG website for more information.

Thank you all.

We thank you all for the incredible support that has been shown through emails, cards, telephone calls and visits and look forward to seeing you.